Press Release

Training centre in Völklingen officially inaugurated New electrical training centre forms conclusion of 10 million euro investment

17 October 2012

The training of qualified young employees has always played an important role in Saarstahl’s human resources policy. For this reason, the company has invested around ten million euros in a new showcase training centre in Völklingen. Today, the official completion of the building for electrical training was marked by an inaugural celebration.

“We need bright minds for intelligent products. With this modern, excellently equipped training centre, we have created the right conditions for achieving this”, explained Saarstahl’s Labour Director, Peter Schweda. “The technology, tools and our committed team of trainers are the guarantees that we will be able to continue to produce the best steel with the best employees in future.“

 

The new training centre for initial technical training at the Völklingen location is integrated into a historic building which was previously occupied by the company “Saar-Metall und Werkzeuge”. This building with a total area of 7,000 square metres was completely renovated in two construction phases over a period of 2.5 years. The first fundamental conversion took place during the 1st building phase from 2007 to 2008. The metal training area with a forge, welding area and finishing department on the ground floor and the rooms for special training for machinists on the 1st floor have been completely renovated and equipped with the latest technology. The second phase of construction took place from the end of 2010 into the year 2012 and integrates the electrical training carried out at the Burbach site until now into the electrical training centre in Völklingen.

The total of 20 training and operational rooms including the training rooms “Basic Training Electrical Engineering“, “Programmable Logic Control PLC“, “Electronics” and “Switch Training“ are equipped with projectors, presentation PC as well as a lighting control system which depends on the daylight and presence. As a result of a modern automatic building control system with scenario control of light, projectors and blinds, an optimum of energy saving is achieved.

Currently 44 young employees are training in the profession of an “electronic engineer for industrial engineering“. Across all training years, Saarstahl currently employs 303 trainees in 12 training professions who are in the charge of 15 trainers.

Besides initial training, the training centre will also be used for further training measures in future “so that we can secure and extend our core competence and maintain our position in the international competitive field with regard to quality, innovation and reliability”, says Schweda in conclusion.